The Ducks’ Corey Perry #10 of the Anaheim Ducks skates to the puck during the first period of a game against the Vancouver Canucks at Honda Center on November 9, 2017 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

ANAHEIM — It wasn’t a topic Corey Perry was eager to talk about. Had it not been broached, he’d be just fine.

Unless there are some feelings to get off his chest, why would a decorated former Most Valuable Player really want to discuss his move from prime top-line duty to a spot often reserved for crash-and-bang grinders, not silky scorers? It’s a place where time spent on the ice can be much more limited.

Fourth-line winger Corey Perry doesn’t sound right, and the longtime Ducks star didn’t want to get all into his thoughts on the role shift Ducks coach Randy Carlyle handed him for Tuesday’s game against the New York Rangers.

His response on the ice served as his answer.

“Just go and play hockey,” Perry said after scoring a power-play goal and assisting on another in a 6-3 win. And that outlook really didn’t change a day later.

So don’t try to get into whether he and Carlyle had to converse and exchange their positions about the move, one that likely isn’t permanent given the transitory nature of a coach’s forward lines. There is no real need to elaborate.

“It’s up to him at the end of the day,” Perry said of Carlyle. “Who’s out there at what point in the game. What time and who you’re playing with. Just go out and play hockey.”

Perry no longer makes 30 goals an automatic assumption. But he was the Ducks’ best goal scorer for nearly a decade, with an accomplished resume most NHL players wish to possess. The embodiment of being proven.

And when several of those years are with Carlyle – including 2011, when Perry won the Hart Trophy – it doesn’t make issuing a demotion easy, no matter if it’s temporary or lasting.

“It always makes it tougher,” Carlyle said Wednesday. “The longer the relationship that you have with people and players, it’s never easy. Those are not easy calls. But you don’t do it with malice. You do it based upon what you think is best for the group.

“And sometimes those are the tough decisions that run deep into your mind. You’re thinking about it, and it bothers you that you come up with the decision, and you know it’s not going to be favorable for the player.”

It was just last season when Perry, who struggled through a 19-goal campaign, was separated from longtime linemate Ryan Getzlaf and put on the third line. And Carlyle said the two have met and discussed situations since he returned as the Ducks’ coach.

With any player, Carlyle said whatever discrepancy might exist must be minimized for a productive player-coach relationship.

“The wider that gap is, the more problems there are,” he said. “And if you can keep that gap manageable and manage it properly, then you don’t have all of these outbursts and emotions that get tied into it.

“Go to work. That’s what we ask.”

There were byproducts of moving Perry down. It puts a layer of offensive skill on all four forward lines. And it allowed – or maybe even forced – Carlyle to level out his ice time among them all. No forward played fewer than 11 minutes against the Rangers.

The Rangers’ propensity to take penalties also allowed Carlyle to make sure Perry got loads of time on the power play, where he delivered. It could be the thing that sparks the winger, who had seven goals over his final 14 games last season.

Some extenuating circumstances may have factored into Perry’s ineffective play until Tuesday. A knee injury sidelined him for 11 games, and the winger said it takes time to mentally get beyond it no matter if you’re fine physically. Games are a “different animal,” and teams are at top speed in season.

“Coming off different injuries, you’re going to have a different mindset,” Perry said. “You’re going to be cautious of it. Whatever it is, your knee, your ankle, your elbow, your shoulder.

“It’s going to weigh on you for a little while until you feel comfortable and you get that confidence back. And having that reliability where if I make this play, how am I going to feel after? It took a while, but now it’s definitely past me. I don’t even think about it anymore.”

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